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Paycheck To Paycheck workers

What is your current financial condition

  • I've always lived paycheck to paycheck

    Votes: 27 20.3%

  • I'm currently paycheck to paycheck, but its temporary

    Votes: 17 12.8%

  • I'm not paycheck to paycheck now, but I have been in the past

    Votes: 40 30.1%

  • I was paycheck to paycheck only when I first started my career

    Votes: 19 14.3%

  • I've never been paycheck to paycheck

    Votes: 17 12.8%

  • I'm rich, I don't need to work

    Votes: 3 2.3%

  • On Planet X, we all get paid in goat vouchers

    Votes: 10 7.5%
  • Total voters
    133
  • Poll closed .
Esperdome said:
I feel you there, brother. I'm trying to negotiate a cost of living raise right now myself.
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You're lucky. I doubt most people have that option. Most are just hoping that they don't get sick, since they have minimal or no health insurance.
 
Even if you do have insurance, which I do, co-pays eat up a major portion of my budget. Then there are medications and the services that Insurance doesn't want to pay for because of how they are billed. If I have $10 left in my pocket and my account is in the black when the next deposit hits, it's been a good two weeks. Quite often I'm scraping change and driving on fumes when payday comes around.




Boo
 
Boo said:
Even if you do have insurance, which I do, co-pays eat up a major portion of my budget. Then there are medications and the services that Insurance doesn't want to pay for because of how they are billed. If I have $10 left in my pocket and my account is in the black when the next deposit hits, it's been a good two weeks. Quite often I'm scraping change and driving on fumes when payday comes around.
Boo
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Don't even get me started on gas. The price has doubled in the last 6 years, while wages have been pretty flat for almost everyone in the bottom 90%.
 
JoeEllison said:
Don't even get me started on gas. The price has doubled in the last 6 years, while wages have been pretty flat for almost everyone in the bottom 90%.
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I don't know what part of the world you live in, but here in Houston, craft wages have gone up to extent that a skilled journeyman working some OT could see $75,000 this year. I agree that inflation numbers don't reflect actual inflation, but that's still good money.

I'm all for adjusting min. wage up to reflect reality.
 
Esperdome said:
I don't know what part of the world you live in, but here in Houston, craft wages have gone up to extent that a skilled journeyman working some OT could see $75,000 this year. I agree that inflation numbers don't reflect actual inflation, but that's still good money.

I'm all for adjusting min. wage up to reflect reality.
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I'm talking about nationally, across the board. The median household income is around $45,000, and has been for several years.

Where I live, people who work in some of these towns can't actually afford to live in them, so they have to drive 20-40 miles one way to work. Gas costs are a pretty big deal when you're spending up to $12 a day in gas. Add to that the fact that the yearly cost of living raises barely cover inflation plus the extra you have to pay into the insurance plan every week, and it is pretty obvious why a lot of people are living pretty close to the edge.
 
I intentionally went looking for work in the small town I live because I couldn't afford the gas for a longer commute. Child care costs are the primary reason why I don't work two jobs. During the summer and on days when school is out approximately two-thirds of the money I make that day goes to child care. It's cost prohibitive to work longer hours or a second job.



Boo
 
Why do you guys hate America? Why are you engaging in class warfare? You should be happy that you're not working for $1/day in a third world country. The rich are getting richer--you must not be trying hard enough. ;)
 
jimtron said:
Why do you guys hate America? Why are you engaging in class warfare? You should be happy that you're not working for $1/day in a third world country. The rich are getting richer--you must not be trying hard enough. ;)
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That was nearly my opinion when I started this thread.

I'm a big "By your bootstraps" type person, (no offense, Boo), and have an idea that any of us can make it rich if you apply yourself. We are after all the country that was instrumental in winning WW 2.

Input from some of you I like and respect a lot is changing my mind. :(
 
I'm a big "By your bootstraps" type person, (no offense, Boo), and have an idea that any of us can make it rich if you apply yourself.
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I'm not so sure about that. Certainly a lot of folks have applied themselves and not gotten rich. I know some very talented, very hardworking people that don't make much money. I'm not sure if capitalism necessarily rewards the smartest, hardest working people; or the people who benefit society the most. See: scientists, school teachers, policemen, soldiers vs. Paris Hilton, et al.
 
Esperdome said:
I'm a big "By your bootstraps" type person, (no offense, Boo), and have an idea that any of us can make it rich if you apply yourself. We are after all the country that was instrumental in winning WW 2.
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Not sure if the two are related at all. Your first idea there is that any individual can prevail over the rest, but your proof-statement about WW2 is one of organisation for collective action producing a victory over other nations.

Any individual can make it rich, without that changing your 40% statistic. To change it materially would require some public policy or group action (IMO)

Also, I don't know if "apply yourself" would encompass "benefit from extraordinary good luck" or "exploit others" since those can work.
 
Well, I can comment on one of the biggest differences I found in regards to salary and finances when I came to China. In Canada, there tends to be a credit-based mentality. You get loans for university. You get loans to buy your car. You get loans to buy a house. Etc., etc., etc. Most people are paying off various loans until they're well into their 50's. You buy now, pay later. The result of this is that the majority of the paycheck goes to making payments on your various loans, then using whatever is left for your daily living.

"Saving" money is not a huge priority; even when people have a budget where they can save money, there is a tendency to look at "leftover money" as an excuse to treat yourself, to splurge on something special.

In China, for the most part, it is completely the opposite. The focus is on saving money, they spend it like misers. And they only spend it when they have enough money to afford it (ie. don't take loans). With pensions and social support for the elderly almost non-existent, there's also huge pressure to save money to pay for themselves when they get older.

I remember when I was in university (in Canada), I got a job working at a lumber mill for a summer. I was one of the few white guys there; the majority of the workers were Vietnamese. Those guys were paid less than me; yet always, without fail, saved far, far more from their paycheck than I did from mine. I was single, responsible only for taking care of myself; they were responsible for caring for wives, children, relatives, etc. Yet they always saved more than I did. I lived pretty much from paycheck to paycheck; they were saving up for their children's university, or to buy a house, etc.

Much of it comes down to living style, and your own mindset. It is notable that in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the younger generation are rapidly shifting to a mindset much more similar to that in Canada -- live for today, let tomorrow take care of itself. They are taking out loans for buying apartments and cars, and incurring significant personal debt.
 
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